The HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook (codenamed – 14-c010us) is a relatively powerful, medium frame laptop/netbook which makes use of Google’s Chrome operating system. It makes a good overall impression, but, ultimately, it doesn’t stand out from the crowd, it’s just HP’s addition to an already well balanced market of entry level Chromebook portables. Is it a fair deal for $329 for one reason alone It sports a larger 14 inch screen, most welcomed for those that feel underwhelmed by the 10 and 11 inchers. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of the specifications so you can judge it for yourself…
HP Pavilion 14 Dimensions:
- Display size: 14 inches diagonal (1366×768). Given the price range, the resolution is quite impressive, allowing you to view HD content natively. Given another characteristic – the BrightView type of LEDs used, you get a fairly decent screen with very good viewing angles.
- Width: 13.63 inches
- Depth: 9.37 inches
- Weight: 3.96 lbs
Chassis and ports:
Plastic chassis, strong with a relatively simple design with the proprietary HP imprint. Business like appearance.
- Webcam: yes
- Microphone: integrated microphone
- USB: 3 USB 2.0
- VGA: No
- HDMI: 1 HDMI out
- Card reader: no
- Headphones jack: headphones and microphone combo jack
Connectivity:
The HP Pavilion 14 has the connections you would expect from a chromebook in this price range.
- Ethernet: 1 RJ-45 LAN port
- Wireless: 802.11 a/b WLAN and Bluetooth
- 3G: no
Keyboard and trackpad:
- Keyboard: QWERTY with the usual Chrome specific keys
- Trackpad: yes
Internal hardware and display specifications
As we said earlier, the laptop is not extremely powerful, quite far from it, but, for what it is it is very well balanced. You will not experience any slow-downs in regular browsing and you can multitask, depending on the resources used by the applications, relatively without issues. Remember, this is a not a slow machine but if you’re used to heavy applications running in the background, or a massive amounts of tabs open at the same time, there will be issues.
- Processor: Celeron 847 – 1.1 GHz 2MB L3 Cache. A regular processor for basic to medium powered mobile machines. The L3 cache assures smooth operations as long as it is not over-encumbered with threads
- Chipset: Intel, unspecified
- Memory: 2GB, DDR3, with another free slot. Total memory supported is 4GB DDR3. The sooner you upgrade, the better.
- Graphics Chip: Intel HD graphics
- Speaker: yes, mono
- Storage: 16 GB SSD drive, Intel or Samsung. Check with your retailer to be sure as there is variation
- Battery: 4 cell battery 37WHR, 2.55 Ah. An Ok pack, but it won’t last throughout the day. With light browsing and medium screen brightness expect up to 4/5 hours of continuous usage
- Display: 14 inch, BrightView HD LED backlit, the producer of the display is unspecified. A good LED display, without any shadowing, with good color rendering. The BrightView HD “gimmick” allows you to use the laptop in very bright ambient lighting; however, you’re going to deplete the battery much faster.
Review conclusions:
The HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook is a well rounded laptop/netbook. HP has done well to underline its most essential spec right from the title: 14 inches! Otherwise it doesn’t shine and it has no other particular specification to put it ahead of its competition, but if you had used a Pavilion before and were satisfied by its sturdy and unpretentious build, this is the Chromebook Pavilion family member to consider.
As we mentioned, if it stands apart with anything from its “brethren” it is because of its display which is marginally better than other displays in the same price category and also larger, so, definitely the $329 is well balanced and fair. Even more so if you get it for the cheaper price on Amazon.
At any rate, don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments section. Do you plan to purchase one, do you already own one, we want to know your opinion.